Information About Malaysia

Malaysia is a tropical country situated in the south east of Asia. We are located at the south of Thailand and north of Singapore, flanked by Indonesia in the east and west. The country is separated by the South China Sea into 2 regions. The capital city is at Kuala Lumpur and the administrative capital is at Putrajaya, about 30 minutes from Kuala Lumpur. The country is a federation consisting of 13 states with a federal territory divided into 3 geographical parts, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Putrajaya, and Federal Territory of Labuan.

Malaysia practices a system of parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch headed by the King (known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong) while the Prime Minister holds executive power. The position of the King is rotated between the monarchs (known as the Sultan or Raja) of the 9 Malay states in the Peninsular while the leader of the political party holding a majority in parliament is usually elected the Prime Minister. Generally, an election is held once every 5 years for the people to elect their representatives into the lower house of the federal parliament and state legislative assemblies. The federal parliament is divided into the lower and upper house. The lower house currently consists of 219 members elected by the people while the 69 senators of the upper house are chosen by the federal and state governments.

Quick Statistics

Area : 329,758 square kilometres

Population : 26.2 million (2005 estimate), 23.9 million (2000 census)

Main Ethnicities : Malay, Chinese, Indian (multi-racial)

Capital : Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya (administrative)

Time Zone : GMT +08:00 (Whole country)

Date system : day/month/year

Temperature : 26 to 38 degrees Celcius

Currency : Malaysian Ringgit (RM), RM1 = 100 cents

National Language : Malaysian Malay (English is widely spoken)

National Religion : Islam (other religions are widely practised)

Form of Government : Democratic Constitutional Monarchy

National Flag : Jalur Gemilang (Stripes of Glory)

National Anthem : Negaraku (My Country) :
Apple Quicktime file format
General MIDI file format

Member states of the Federation of Malaysia :
Names in English whenever available

States in the Peninsular Malaysia :
Selangor
Perak
Negeri Sembilan
Kedah
Kelantan
Pahang
Trengganu
Johore
Perlis
Penang
Malacca
Federal Territory (Kuala Lumpur)
Federal Territory (Putrajaya)

States in the Borneo island :
Sabah
Sarawak
Federal Territory (Labuan)

Picture 1 : The country's current leaders, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Najib Abdul Razak.

Picture 2 : A view of Kuala Lumpur, the country's capital. The tall building on the left is Maybank Tower, the headquaters of the largest bank in Malaysia. In the middle stands Kuala Lumpur Tower, presently the tallest building in Asia while on the right stands the Petronas Twin Towers, currently the tallest twin buildings in the world at over 452 metres above sea level.

Picture 3 : Fireworks display at Petronas Twin Towers during New Year 2006 (photo by TV Smith).

Picture 4 : Night view of a walkway at Putrajaya, the country's administrative capital.

Picture 5 : A picture of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders taken in the 1998 ASEAN Leaders Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Picture 6 : A map of Malaysia that is situated in South East Asia.

Picture 7 : A map of Malaysia formed by clouds (photo by TV Smith).

Development Plan

The development of Malaysia is mainly guided by 5-year master plans, known as the Malaysia Plan. The country is presently implementing the 8th Malaysia Plan, which is the period from the year 2001 to the year 2005. For its long term development, Malaysia is also embarking on a long-term modernisation plan to develop the country further. This vision was first showcased through the plan called Vision 2020. We envision the attainment of developed nation status by the year 2020. The prime highlight of this plan is the development of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) and its related projects which will eventually cover the whole country.

Link to the official site of the MSC.

The MSC is an ambitious plan to bring the country right in front of the 21st century. It will become a testbed for the country to leap into the information age and become a knowledge-based economy. Many projects like the national smart card, smart schools and telemedicine, to name a few will see the light of day here. The MSC spans an area of 750 square metres with the Petronas Twin Towers in the north and the new Kuala Lumpur International Airport in the south. In the centre phase 1 of the country's new administrative capital, Putrajaya has been completed. The new administrative capital will be a testbed for the world's first electronic government.

The MSC consists of 7 flagship applications. They are:

As of this moment, the necessary infrastructure is being put in place to enable all this to take place by the national telecommunications provider, Telekom Malaysia. High speed multi-gigabits fibre-optics cables has been laid to enable fast communication within the Corridor and outside it. The new Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang which was opened in April 1998 will cater for internal and external air travel and air cargo needs. The area has an extensive network of roads, expressways and railroads which allows fast internal travel while shipping is handled by the country's premier port in nearby Klang. Port Klang is being continuously upgraded to cater for high-volume cargo needs and is now one of the busiest and biggest ports in the world.

Links

Multimedia Development Council

Current Economic Indicators

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Updated : 27/05/2006